Granted, said remake has Joel and Ethan Coen behind the script, fresh off their biggest box office success ever with "True Grit," as well as recent Oscar-winner Colin Firth playing Harry Tristan Dean, the role established by treasured thespian Michael Caine. But then came word that Cameron Diaz is playing Nicole Chang, a role that Shirley MacLaine made famous in the 1966 original. Diaz isn't the most obvious successor to MacLaine, sure, but maybe she doesn't need to be.

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When I caught up with Diaz recently as she was rushing into the Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday, I asked her how prep was going on the film. Our exchange was brief, but she assured me that the "Gambit" remake is very much its own entity -- in other words, don't expect her to channel Shirley MacLaine for her upcoming performance.

"I'm very excited about 'Gambit,'" she said. "It's a whole new [movie]. It's very different from [the original], yes."

And now she gets to work alongside not just respected actor Colin Firth, but Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth.

"I know, it's so exciting!" she said. "I hope to see him in there tonight."

In their new version of "Gambit," Firth stars as a London art curator who seeks to con a rich collector into purchasing a phony painting. As part of his plot, he recruits a Texas steer roper (Diaz) to pose as the granddaughter of the man who liberated the painting during World War II. Can Firth and Diaz join together to deliver a "Gambit" remake that lives up to the original? The jury is still out, but Diaz seems enthusiastic at the very least.

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